474 POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
was so singular^ that I could not forbear stopping him a 
moment^ to examine his head-dress, and inquire about it. 
He informed me that the hair was the beards of men, and 
that the design of it was to excite terror. On my inquir¬ 
ing what the horny appearances were, I was informed that 
they were the nelio or tar a of taehae tahito^ teeth or horns 
of ancient cannibals or wild men. I informed him they 
were young whales’ teeth 3 but he seemed inclined to 
doubt it. I could not but think, as I looked at him, that 
he certainly had succeeded tolerably well in rendering 
himself a terrible object. One of his attendants, Maro, 
a plump-bodied, round-faced, good-natured looking man 
appeared in perfect contrast with his chief, and it was 
impossible to behold him without a smile. His person 
was rather stout and short, his hair was cut close to his 
head, the upper part of his body was uncovered, but 
round his waist he wore a pareu reaching to his knees. 
He had a drummer’s jacket on, highly ornamented, and 
scarlet-coloured; it was, however, too small for him to 
get it on his back, or to pass his muscular arms through 
the sleeves ; it was therefore fixed on the outside of his 
pareu, the body of the jacket hanging down in place of 
the skirts of a coat, while the sleeves were passed round 
his waist, and tied in a knot in front. His equipment 
was in perfect accordance with his uniform, for the 
only weapon that he had was a short brass-barrelled 
blunderbuss, called by the natives vaha rahi, or great- 
mouth. 
Although the events of the morning had been such as 
were adapted to awaken very different feelings, yet when 
he turned round his good-natured face to bid me fare¬ 
well, I could not forbear smiling. His person, dress, 
arms, and a habit of leaning forwards, which, as he 
